When I first got involved in climate politics (circa 2005), I feel the view that organised labour was a key environmental actor was, if not quite marginal, then certainly not mainstream. That has definitely shifted in a positive way since. #ClimateAction #COP26
Similarly, in the labour movement, around a decade ago I remember hearing a well-respected trade unionist give a speech in which he denounced climate politics as a middle-class concern, and the climate movement as anti-worker. Much rarer to hear that sort of rhetoric now.
From a distance it seems it’s been commonsensical for most activists to link the cleansing workers’ strike into #COP26 mobilisations in Glasgow. I think that’s a good sign that some form of class politics, however rudimentary, is now much more mainstream in the climate movement.
Translating that into a more developed working-class climate politics, that workers feel confident enough about to take action on the basis of, is still a big challenge and leap, but it does feel like we’ve built some modest but real foundations.
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